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Great Christian Thinkers - Publisher's Foreword
Great Christian Thinkers - Publisher's Foreword
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
PUBLISHER’S FOREWORD It is a matter of particular pride at Fortress Press that we offer this compilation of brief portraits composed and presented by Pope Benedict XVI on key figures from Christian history… Taken from Great Christian Thinkers by Pope Benedict XVI
Great Christian Thinkers - 34 St. Maximus The Confessor
Great Christian Thinkers - 34 St. Maximus The Confessor
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Maximus The Confessor One of the great Fathers of the Eastern Church in later times w s a monk, St. Maximus. His fearless courage in witnessing to— “confessing”— even while suffering, the integrity of his faith in Jesus Christ, true God and true man, saviour of the world, ear…
Great Christian Thinkers - 26 St. Leo The Great
Great Christian Thinkers - 26 St. Leo The Great
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Leo The Great Continuing our journey through the Fathers of the Church, true stars that shine in the distance, we next encounter a pope who, in 1754, Benedict XIV proclaimed a Doctor of the Church: St. Leo the Great. As the nickname soon attributed to him by tradition suggest…
Great Christian Thinkers - 2 St. Ignatius of Antioch
Great Christian Thinkers - 2 St. Ignatius of Antioch
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Ignatius of Antioch Saint Ignatius was the third bishop of Antioch, from 70 to 107, the date of his martyrdom. At that time, Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch were the three great metropolises of the Roman Empire… Taken from Great Christian Thinkers by Pope Benedict XVI
Great Christian Thinkers - 6 Origen of Alexandria
Great Christian Thinkers - 6 Origen of Alexandria
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
Origen of Alexandria His Life and Work In our meditations on the great figures of the early Church, we now become acquainted with one of the most remarkable. Origen of Alexandria truly was a figure crucial to the whole development of Christian thought. He gathered up the legacy o…
Great Christian Thinkers - 4 St. Irenaeus of Lyons
Great Christian Thinkers - 4 St. Irenaeus of Lyons
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Irenaeus of Lyons In reflecting on the prominent figures of the early Church, we come to the eminent personality of St. Irenaeus of Lyons. The biographical information on him comes from his own testimony, handed down to us by Eusebius in his fifth book on Church history… Take…
Great Christian Thinkers - 13 St. Gregory of Nazianzus
Great Christian Thinkers - 13 St. Gregory of Nazianzus
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Gregory of Nazianzus His Life and Times After discussing St. Basil, a Father of the Church and a great teacher of the faith, I speak now of his friend Gregory of Nazianzus. Like Basil, he was a native of Cappadocia. As a distinguished theologian, orator, and champion of the C…
Great Christian Thinkers - 8 St. Cyprian
Great Christian Thinkers - 8 St. Cyprian
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Cyprian We come now to an excellent African bishop of the third century, St. Cyprian, “the first bishop in Africa to obtain the crown of martyrdom.” His fame, Pontius the Deacon, his first biographer, attests, is also linked to his literary corpus and pastoral activity during…
Great Christian Thinkers - 9 Eusebius of Caesarea
Great Christian Thinkers - 9 Eusebius of Caesarea
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
Eusebius of Caesarea In the history of early Christianity, there is a fundamental distinction between the first three centuries and those that followed the Council of Nicaea in 325, the First Ecumenical Council… Taken from Great Christian Thinkers by Pope Benedict XVI
Great Christian Thinkers - 7 Tertullian
Great Christian Thinkers - 7 Tertullian
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
Tertullian We continue to speak of the ancient Church’s great personalities. They are teachers of the faith also for us today and witnesses of the perennial timeliness of the Christian faith… Taken from Great Christian Thinkers by Pope Benedict XVI
Great Christian Thinkers - 11 St. Cyril of Jerusalem
Great Christian Thinkers - 11 St. Cyril of Jerusalem
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Cyril of Jerusalem Our attention is focused now on St. Cyril of Jerusalem. His life is woven of two dimensions: on the one hand, pastoral care, and on the other, his involvement, in spite of himself, in the heated controversies that were then tormenting the Church of the East…
Great Christian Thinkers - 24 St. Paulinus of Nola
Great Christian Thinkers - 24 St. Paulinus of Nola
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Paulinus of Nola The Father of the Church to whom we turn our attention now is St. Paulinus of Nola. Paulinus, a contemporary of St. Augustine to whom he was bound by a firm friendship, exercised his ministry at Nola in Campania, where he was a monk and later a priest and a b…
Great Christian Thinkers - 38 Germanus of Constantinople
Great Christian Thinkers - 38 Germanus of Constantinople
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
Germanus of Constantinople Patriarch Germanus of Constantinople does not belong among the most representative figures of the Greek-speaking world of Eastern Christianity. Yet his name appears with a certain solemnity in the list of the great champions of sacred images drafted by …
Great Christian Thinkers - 51 Hugh and Richard of Saint-Victor
Great Christian Thinkers - 51 Hugh and Richard of Saint-Victor
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
Hugh and Richard of Saint-Victor I have been presenting exemplary figures of believers dedicated to showing the harmony between reason and faith and to witnessing with their lives to the proclamation of the gospel… Taken from Great Christian Thinkers by Pope Benedict XVI
Great Christian Thinkers - 54 John of Salisbury
Great Christian Thinkers - 54 John of Salisbury
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
John of Salisbury We shall become acquainted here with John of Salisbury, who belonged to one of the most important schools of philosophy and theology of the Middle Ages, that of the Cathedral of Chartres in France. Like the theologians of whom I have spoken in the past few chapt…
Great Christian Thinkers - 52 William of Saint-Thierry